Does the State Protect Us?
When the enemy is at the gates, the individual abdicates his self-reliance and places himself unreservedly under the direction of the captain; he gives up his freedom in order to attain freedom. Or so he thinks.
John Cassidy Fails in His Critique of Markets
While driving my son to school one morning, I heard a National Public Radio interview with John Cassidy, author of the new book How Markets Fail. Fortunately, we got to the front of the line before Cassidy let out the zingers. A few minutes earlier, and my son would have seen Daddy lose his temper.
Krugman Falls into the Keynesian Accounting Trap
It’s one thing to criticize Paul Krugman for his views on Austrian economics, but only a brave soul would have the temerity to question Krugman’s discussion of the Keynesian approach to international trade, right? Since Krugman is the world’s most famous living Keynesian, and he won the Nobel (Memorial) Prize for his work on trade theory, accusing him of a basic error on this score would be akin to telling Madonna she knows nothing of pop music.
This Way Toward Equality
Another enticing sign along the road toward serfdom is “equality.” It is one of the most appealing enticements of all, and therefore holds great danger to liberty and freedom.
The Bubble Decade
Last night CNBC premiered “The Bubble Decade” with host David Faber looking back at the three boom-and-bust episodes of the past 10 years–tech, real estate and private equity. It will replay Sunday and no doubt many more times in the coming weeks and months.
Leaving aside the analysis at the end, the program is quite good. No, the Austrian Business Cycle Theory is not considered, but John McAfee’s story, in particular, is extraordinary and gives one a peek into the entrepreneurial mind.
The Intellectual Revolution Is in Process
This is just the beginning. We have some startling projects on the way, to be unveiled week by week in the coming year. We are using every tool we have available and implementing the newest ones as they come along.
The Right to Work
Mussolini is dead, but his fascist idea lives — the idea that the individual is the creature of the state, that he exists for the state, that he has no rights except what the state gives him and can take away.
The Myth that Is FDR
From backstage, the New Deal was an incredible confusion, unable, as Mr. Flynn thinks, to make sense even to itself; and the man least competent to make sense of it was the president, FDR.
Hayek on Individualism
For the acclaim it received at the time, Friedrich A. Hayek’s small book owed nothing to style and everything to its intensity of feeling and the immediacy of the subject matter. It was written to make the British shudder.
A Note on the Supposed Independence of the Fed
Banking – whether commercial banking or central banking – works best when it is fully competitive and responsible. The more it is removed from the rule of civil law, the more damaging it becomes for the economy and society.
